Second Chances for the Alpha and His Omega

Chapter 6

"Lou, do you want to go to the mall with me and the girls?" Harry asked through the bathroom door that Louis was locked behind. 

"I don't know," Louis says, yanking off his shirt and throwing it to the heap of his clothes by the door. 

"Well, I'll let you think about it. I will wait out with the girls for you to get done in your shower and make a decision, alright?" 

The following paragraph might be triggering. 

"Alright Harry," Louis called, turning on the shower so that all noise, inside and out, was eliminated. He looked into the mirror wiping away the small bit of condensation that was gathering on it. He could see his hips, how they curved out wider than his shoulders even went. He could see how his hipbones pointed out enough that if he wanted to, he could balance a ruler between the two of them. He could see the pudgy bit of stomach at the bottom of his stomach from the C-Section that he never cared enough to try to get rid of. He could see his collarbones and how they poked out. He could see his cheekbones stand out on his face, which looked paler than normal. He continued to look at himself in the mirror, counting the things that he wished were different. He lost count at 24, but didn't stop pointing out the stupid flaws in his body. He didn't even realize it, but he was making his stomach turn just by looking at how gross his body was. Soon, he was crouching over the toilet and releasing his breakfast into it, grimacing at the taste it left behind. 

For now, the triggering parts are over, I think.

He turned to the shower, turning it to the coldest setting it could go to. He winced at how cold it was, but stepped in anyway. He picked up his mint shampoo, squeezing some into his hand before slathering it onto his hair, not even trying to be gentle with it. He rinsed that out, then putting conditioner into his hand and putting that into his hair. While waiting for his three minutes to be up, he brushed his teeth, shaved, and washed his body off. By the time he'd washed the soap from his body, he was already well over 10 minutes into the conditioner sitting on his hair.

He rinsed the conditioner from his hair, washing his face afterwards. He was now shivering completely, head to toe, but he stood in the shower anyway. He let the frigid water hit his shoulders and slide down his chest and back. He didn't really care that someone was knocking on the door, just cared about the water that he was slowly becoming numb to. 

"Louis, what's taking you so long, darling?" Harry asked, opening the door. He was expecting steam to hit him immediately and for him to be near suffocated when he closed the door, but he was met with cold air instead. "Louis, baby, why are you in a cold shower?" 

Louis still wasn't even listening to Harry speak. He had his arms wrapped around his knees and he was sitting down on the floor, knees pulled to his chest. He could vaguely hear someone warning him that they were going to open the shower curtain, but he couldn't care less. He honestly didn't care if he sat here for hours. 

Harry did follow through with his warning, yanking the shower curtain open. He crouched down to be level with Louis, who was shivering in the shower, lips turning an odd shade of blue. It wasn't the type of blue that he would think cold people's lips would turn, these were more of a purple-ish color. He grabbed Louis' fluffy towel, turning the water off before gathering Louis into his arms and holding him in his lap, wrapping the towel around him to warm him up. 

"Loubell, what's wrong?" Harry asked, rocking them gently back and forth on the closed toilet lid. 

Louis just looked up at Harry in confusion, "What are you doing?" 

"I think the better question would be, what are you doing?" 

"Sitting in your lap." 

"Why were you in the cold shower?" Harry asked, curiously peering down at the small omega in his lap. 

"I was just in the cold shower. Do I need to give you a damn explanation for every single thing I do in my life?" 

"No, but an explanation as to why you were sitting in the cold shower, shivering, would please me to no end." 

"Will you just help me get dressed? Just keep me company and all?" Louis asked.

"I can certainly do that," Harry nodded and picked Louis up, carrying him to his room. 

Harry, being the respectful alpha that he is, turned around when Louis was changing. He didn't stop talking to Louis, though. He promised to keep Louis company when he was changing, which he did to the best he could. 

"Would you like to go to the mall? We could stop off at Hot Topic or whatever store you're into nowadays. It's been so long since we've been to the mall. I don't even know what stores you like anymore. I'm sorry, Louis," Harry said, fiddling with his phone. 

"It's fine. I'm the one who told you that I wanted you to leave. I didn't mean it, though. I just wanted to see if you would. I lost a lot of hope in you that day. I couldn't believe how easily you just waltzed out of the room. You didn't even look back," Louis sniffled, earning a long and steady look from Harry. 

Louis shook his head and laughed bitterly, "That's okay, though. I don't expect people to stay for very long, no matter who they are or what they're tied down by." 

"Louis," Harry reached out, causing Louis to take a step back. 

"Come on, let's just go to the mall and get it over with," Louis sighed. He hated the mall. It was always crowded and it made him feel all alone. He hadn't been able to go to the mall since he was still mated to Harry. 

"You don't have to go if you don't want to go," Harry said, pulling Louis back to him. 

"Don't say that or I might actually take you up on that offer and continue being my hermit self."

"Well, I'm not exactly going to make you go with me." 

"Whatever Harry," Louis groaned, snapping his arm away from Harry's hold and walking out of the door. 

Harry was left by himself in Louis' room, which he actually used to share with Louis. It was so weird not seeing his stuff in this room, including the paint color that he and Louis chose specifically because it looked like their eye colors were mushed together.  Harry grabbed his phone off of the charger and walked out of the door, following Louis before he got too far away for Harry to see him. 

"Mommy, are you going to the mall with us?" Doris asked, bouncing on the couch. 

"Yeah, I am, Dori," Louis faked a smile. 

"Are you sure you want to?" 

"Yes Doris," Louis said trying to get her to shut her mouth by being stern. 

"You're positive? Because the last time-" 

"I know what happened the last time, Doris. Stop reminding me," Louis growled. 

"Whatever mommy," Doris threw herself back against the couch, while Louis ignored the curious looks he was getting from Harry as he put on his shoes. 

Also, while you're here, I may as well squeeze in some self promo! The lovely _tatoe18 and I are writing a Larry fanfiction together. Louis is a barista, Harry is a lawyer. There will potentially be some BDSM scenes in it. It's also a strangers to lovers fic, so please check it out. It's called Never Enough.